Lightbulb - Dilanchian IP blogLightbulb - Dilanchian IP blogDilanchian Lawyers and Consultants on intellectual property law, IP commercialisation and business law from an Australian perspective Articles
Lawyers who get social media
2008-03-26 21:58:00 Every business has a brand, some have several. All businesses need customers for their brands because the dominant purpose of business is to make money. To reach those customers they need exposure. Simple really... except things constantly change. Take the business of Unilever Australia Limited (http://www.unilever.com.au/) as an example. In Australia it owns or conducts brand management (http://www.unilever.com.au/ourbrands/) for such trade marks as Rexona, Surf, Sunsilk, Vaseline, Streets, Omo, Lipton, Flora, and Bertolli. More About: Social , Media , Lawyers
Why is social media such a hit?
2008-03-17 09:24:00 Today I want to join the dots between a few posts last week. I also want to put out a theory which may, at least partly, explain why social media sites are hits especially with teenagers. They include sites such as Facebook (ip/does-your-business-have-an-effective- digital-media-footprint-3.html), Myspace (ip/wisdom-for-commercialisation-of-socia l-networking-websites.html) and Bepo. More broadly one can add other social media sites which include social networking features, eg LinkedIn, Delicious, Flikr, and YouTube (ip/viacom-to-youtube-i-want-my-mtv.html) . Among the key features of these social media (ip/make-the-web-grow-your-business-ask-u s-how-2.html) sites, often listed as part of Web 2.0 (innovations/modernity-and-its-web-2.0-en thusiasts.html), are their scope for comments; ease of content uploading, tagging and bookmarking; linking to friends ; and receiving automated updates about them. More About: Social , Media
Bebo founders and VC backers sing Be-bop-a-lula
2008-03-13 14:00:00 Michael and Xochi Birch made an estimated US$600 million (£295 million) yesterday after the sale of their 70% stake in Bebo , the social networking site, to the AOL division of Time Warner for US$850 million (A$898 million) in cash. ... News Corporation, the parent company of The Times, acquired MySpace for US$580 million in 2005, when it had slightly more than 25 million monthly users. Bebo [claims it] has 40 million users.* Facebook [currently with 60+ million subscribers] is thought to have generated US$100 million in [advertsing] revenues in 2007, which is likely to represent a benchmark for Bebo. by Dan Sabbagh, AOL pays $850m in cash for Bebo as cornerstone of international strategy (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/bu siness/industry_sectors/media/article3548 913.ece) , The Times, 14 March 2008. *TechCruch (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/13/aol -buys-bebo-for-750-million/) quotes Comscore data which says Bebo has 22 million unique visitors. TechCrun... More About: Lula , Sing , Founders
Learning from Xerox's trademark makeover
2008-03-13 06:57:00 PRESS RELEASE: Here at Xerox Corporation we've got a problem and we think we can fix it in 2008 with a brand makeover. Customers are being drawn to Canon, Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba. Don't even mention Nokia or Apple! We have said goodbye to our almost 50 year old logo. Today we'd like you to meet our new logo. More About: Learning , Makeover , Trademark
Contract Drafting Tips Series: Restraint of Trade Clause
2008-03-12 14:00:00 A restraint of trade clause seeks to restrict the freedom of a person to trade or deal in specified ways with assets, information or third parties. It can apply during a contractual relationship and also for a period after its termination or expiry. This article is part of our series on drafting tips for contract clauses. The law is that a restraint of trade is contrary to public policy and unenforceable unless the restraint is reasonable in the parties' interests and also in the public interest: Attwood v Lamont (1920) 3 KB 371. The typical situation we see is when a company, employer or employee calls us in a panic for advice on a restraint. It's best to check restraints earlier than this. More About: Tips , Series , Trade , Contract , Clause
Does your business have an effective digital media footprint?
2008-03-11 14:00:00 What does it take today to create or improve your corporate or business digital footprint? Is reaching business elites (http://www.marketingcharts.com/televisio n/americas-business-elite-voracious-consu mers-of-all-media-1842/?camp=newsletter src=mc type=textlink) part of your target? As a solicitor working with content for 25 years and with digital media since 1983 I've learned a thing or two about digital media law as well as creative and commercial considerations. The question is: what works today for business? If you are pressured for time then make this sentence your mantra: The digital media footprint and functionality a business or corporation needs requires ideas and a plan. Following are free ideas, call and we can discuss a plan. More About: Business , Media , Digital , Effective
Commercialisation of IP and IT products for Australian children: trends and
2008-03-11 08:48:00 The habits of teenagers often stay with them for life. Music was one of my addictions as a teenager. It inspired me to write Music formats and law: commercialisation of 45-rpm records (content/view/196/36/). A recently released Australian Government survey contains good statistics on the habits of young people today and their use of digital media. It is relevant for developers, distributors and financiers of intellectual property (IP) products for teenagers and young adults. It is useful for commercialisation or IP valuation of a social media website, educational site, online game, software program, or other IT product. More About: Products , Children , Trends
Is there an engineer in the house? Australia's IP future.
2008-03-10 07:39:00 When I go to a party alone and the host finds out I'm a lawyer I often hear: Oh, so and so over there is a lawyer, let me introduce you to her. My fantasy is to reply with this: Thank you. But is there an engineer in the house? You see, the work of engineers inspires me. Engineer s create intellectual property (IP). Sadly the kudos, social status and money too often go to others, at least in Anglo-Saxon countries. We are pondering this theme as Australia's 2020 ideas summit approaches - http://www.australia2020.gov.au (http://www.australia2020.gov.au/). We seek an escalator to the future, better still a road and a road map. Engineers can build IP roads and road maps to the future. They deal with substantive IP. Their work can invent or create a market. In contrast most people in business, including often we IP lawyers, work with merely late stage representational IP. We merely paste IP law decoration or packaging onto products or services, eg by making... More About: House , Future , The House
IP strategy for R&D: keep records like Thomas Edison
2008-03-09 14:00:00 Making money from R D and intellectual property is based on documents. I learned this in 1983 on the first day of my first job as Legal Officer for Angus Robertson Publishers, Australia's oldest book publisher. A colleague pointed to three tall and very heavy fire-proof filing cabinets in a hallway. She then said: The publishing contracts with authors in there are the foundation for the wealth of this company over the last 100 years. This post ends with practical suggestions for improving record keeping. I'll first discuss why it is vital in business to make records and (which includes preparing documents). More About: Strategy , Thomas , Edison , Records , Thomas Edison
Celebrating 200 Lightbulb Australian law blog posts
2008-03-08 14:00:00 Here's a brisk jaunt through the last 100 Lightbulb posts. Lightbulb is our firm's blog on intellectual property law, commercialisation and related business law. The focus is on Australian law and circumstances. It now contains well over 200 substantive posts. For a review of the first 100 Lightbulb posts you can read Celebrating 100 Lightbulb law blog posts (ip/celebrating-100-lightbulb-law-blog-po sts.html), published in April 2007. Lightbulb is targeted for people in business in Australia and abroad, among them lawyers. Our pulse races when a post goes online and sparkles. This happens particularly when there is a combination of practical content with a good headline, illustrations and graphic design. This best of selection provides a moment for reflection and celebration. More About: Blog , Posts
Six good questions for building wealth with intellectual property
2008-03-08 01:22:00 Venture capital looks for great intellectual property (IP). So do many providers of seed capital, including angel investors like friends and family. A single IP asset or right is rarely a silver bullet, be it a patent, a trade mark, a specific trade secret or some other IP. Your IP will be more attractive to financial backers if you work on constantly perfecting a bundle of IP legal rights instead of daydreaming about a one shot silver bullet. More About: Building , Wealth , Questions , Property , Intellectual
My shirt lacks legal design or how to beat parallel importation and avoid c
2008-03-06 14:00:00 It's casual Friday and I'm wearing a blue pinstripe white Ralph Polo business shirt. It has a blue embroidered polo player logo. A relative bought it for me in the United States. She bought it as an out of season design from an outlet store in California, probably for a price far cheaper than anywhere in Sydney. Noric Dilanchian Video on Legal Design SFY2UMfzlBE More About: Shirt , Beat , Avoid
Australia's common law near abroad
2008-03-05 00:41:00 Twelve months ago I asked a friend, a visiting barrister from London, a question. I ask: Do the courts in England sometimes quote Australian judgements? He replied: England has judges whose legal minds can be extraordinary; and there are so many of them. Why should they refer to the law of Australia! I had no quarrel with his reply. I was just curious as to the practices of judges in England. So what countries are citing the judgements of Australian judges if not judges in England? This question did not occur to me again, until today. More About: Common
Special Collection: Retailing Law
2008-03-03 14:00:00 This is a special collection of our posts and articles on law for retailing. They are useful for readers with businesses, whether or not they are retailers. Retailing involves marketing, one of the most regulated business functions. It is not surprising then that there are abundant legal stories about retailing. We've fashioned them into case studies to help readers improve and minimise legal risks in their online or offline businesses. The posts and articles here are in categories - online, fashion, food, beverages and general. Many involve issues linked to trade practices law, trade mark law and intellectual property law. More About: Special
Law with graphics and software
2008-03-03 14:00:00 In the age of the internet and other computer networks, the lack of graphics to simplify law, let alone public software tools, remains remarkable. The legal sector's fixation on text alone, leads to data smog, information obesity, and information overload. This became the case years ago in business law. Now it is commonplace in numerous fields of law, eg insolvency, corporations, and employment law. The good news is that it is inevitable that the situation will change. More About: Software , Graphics
Index for Lightbulb by date
2008-02-25 05:54:00 This is an index of Lightbulb posts by date order. Use it to search the 200+ posts since August 2006. To search instead by service area go to Index for Lightbulb by service area (content/view/141/36/). To search more specific topics, go to the Special Collections (commercialisation-knowledge-management/c ategorised-by-special-colle.html) of blog posts and Library articles. Each index in this integrated website and blog is illustrated with an opening photo of Melvil Dewey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvil_Dewe y) (1851-1931), inventor in the 1880s of the proprietary Dewey Decimal System.
Successful partner visas overcome the 12 month rule
2008-02-25 04:55:00 Partner visa applications take up about 25% of Australia's migration intake. There are two types. Firstly, Spouse Visas (for married or de-facto heterosexual couples). Secondly, Interdependency Visas (mainly for gay or lesbian couples). To apply for a Spouse Visa for a married couple, the marriage has to be recognized under Australian law. It does not have to be conducted in Australia. The rules for de-facto couples and gay or lesbian couples are very similar. Generally both require the couple to have lived together for 12 months. The 12 month rule and the exceptions to it are discussed in this article. More About: Partner , Overcome , Rule , Month
DVD format war ends, Sony Blu-ray wins
2008-02-20 10:00:00 Toshiba on Tuesday surrendered in the high-definition format war against Sony -backed Blu-ray, saying it would no longer make or market HD DVD players and recorders. The announcement came four days after Wal-Mart Stores, the world's largest retailer, said it would stop selling HD DVD movies and players (http://www.informationweek.com/showArtic le.jhtml?articleID=206504567) by June [2008]. But the turning point in the format battle came last month [January 2008] when Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, which accounts for 20% of DVD sales in the U.S., said it would ship all of its high-definition titles in Blu-ray by year's end. Consumer electronics retailerBest Buy and online movie renter Netflix followed suit this month. Extract from Toshiba Gives Up On HD DVD, Ends High-Def Format War (http://www.informationweek.com/news/show Article.jhtml?articleID=206800463) by Antone Gonsalves, InformationWeek 19 Feb 2008 More About: Wins
Domain hijacking
2008-02-19 20:07:00 Safeguarding your domain name and related intellectual property should be a high priority for your business. Unscrupulous opportunists troll the internet looking for businesses, both well known and not, checking for unregistered misspellings, similar domain names, or expired registrations. There are many scams. One example that comes to mind is the Woolworths-owned Dick Smith Electronics. Its main website is dse.com.au. However it was discovered in 2007 that another version of their business name had not been registered by the company, and had been turned into a pornography portal. To avoid such problems make timely decisions about domain names and IP protection. More About: Domain
Six permanent residency rules for couples or partners
2008-02-19 05:45:00 In the year ending June 2007, Australia granted permanent residency to 161,000 migration applicants. About 25% of them came in as partners of Australians. These include de-facto, gay and lesbian partners. 1. At what time can a partner visa be lodged? A partner can be either overseas or in Australia at the time of lodging a migration application with the Immigration Department. The time an Australian partner visa application can be lodged varies. It depends on the nature of the partner relationship. More About: Couples , Rules , Residency , Partners , Permanent
Australia's first 11 in performance and valuation
2008-02-12 10:00:00 Every day people examine news, sharemarket performance and other factors looking for signs and explanations for shifts in valuations for companies, businesses and assets. Their search leads to mountains of books, articles and electronic data feeds. Only a few sources are insightful, reliable and free of bias. Even fewer focus on Australia. One useful book on increasing company performance and valuations is The First XI. It is written by four Australian authors who have either an academic or consulting background or a combination of both. The lead author is Professor Graham Hubbard, currently Head of Adelaide Graduate School of Business. Hubbard. Prof Hubbard and his co-authors apply rigour to answer this question: What is it that winning organisations do which gets them above-average performance over the long term? More About: Performance , Valuation
Australia's first 11 in performance and valuation
2008-02-12 10:00:00 Every day people examine news, sharemarket performance and other factors looking for signs and explanations for shifts in valuations for companies, businesses and assets. Their search leads to mountains of books, articles and electronic data feeds. Only a few sources are insightful, reliable and free of bias. Even fewer focus on Australia. One useful book on increasing company performance and valuations is The First XI. It is written by four Australian authors who have either an academic or consulting background or a combination of both. The lead author is Professor Graham Hubbard, currently Head of Adelaide Graduate School of Business. Hubbard. Prof Hubbard and his co-authors apply rigour to answer this question: What is it that winning organisations do which gets them above-average performance over the long term? More About: Performance , Valuation
Medical conditions don't rule out visa applications
2008-02-11 10:00:00 Did you know that gay and lesbian applicants can successfully obtain an interdependent (partner) migration visa even when they have a serious health condition? They can seek what is known as the health waiver. This means that as long as health costs are not excessive, they can obtain the visa. This benefits applicants who have a serious health condition, such as being HIV positive. The standard health test applied by the Australian Department of Immigration does not leave much room for visa applicants with an illness or condition. It certainly rules out applicants who have HIV or any serious condition which might cost some A$26,500 over a five year period to treat. More About: Medical , Applications , Visa , Conditions , Rule
Medical conditions don't rule out visa applications
2008-02-11 10:00:00 Did you know that gay and lesbian applicants can successfully obtain an interdependent (partner) migration visa even when they have a serious health condition? They can seek what is known as the health waiver. This means that as long as health costs are not excessive, they can obtain the visa. This benefits applicants who have a serious health condition, such as being HIV positive. The standard health test applied by the Australian Department of Immigration does not leave much room for visa applicants with an illness or condition. It certainly rules out applicants who have HIV or any serious condition which might cost some A$26,500 over a five year period to treat. More About: Medical , Applications , Visa , Conditions , Rule
Intellectual property defined
2008-02-06 08:47:00 This post continues the Lightbulb series on terminology. The series so far has definitions of business model (ip/business-model-defined-11.html), commercialisation (intellectual-property/defining-commercia lisation.html), and innovation (intellectual-property/innovation-defined -and-redefined.html). Intellectual property is a legal term. Intellectual property law is a loose category, with variations country by country. It includes copyright, confidential information, registered trade marks and patents. A longer list for Australia is set out at the end of this post. More About: Property , Defined , Intellectual Property
Want a work visa for Australia?
2008-02-05 22:40:00 Clients often come into my office and make a simple request: I want to apply for a work visa. The reality is that strictly speaking a substantial number of visas are not granted because of work reasons. Instead, they may have a right to work attached. What do I mean? First, there are over 100 different visas types. The Department of Immigration has recently tried to reduce that number with changes relevant to skilled visas. Second, popular permanent visas include these two categories: - partner visas, this is a relationship-based visas; and - points tested skilled visas. More About: Australia , Work , Visa
Want a work visa for Australia?
2008-02-05 22:40:00 Clients often come into my office and make a simple request: I want to apply for a work visa. The reality is that strictly speaking a substantial number of visas are not granted because of work reasons. Instead, they may have a right to work attached. What do I mean? First, there are over 100 different visas types. The Department of Immigration has recently tried to reduce that number with changes relevant to skilled visas. Second, popular permanent visas include these two categories: - partner visas, this is a relationship-based visas; and - points tested skilled visas. More About: Australia , Work , Visa
Cue > Jan 2008 > Articles on business structuring, law and IP
2008-02-01 02:25:00 This is the January 2008 issue of Cue, the Dilanchian email newsletter. Cue is a monthly selected list of our Library (general-items/library.html) articles and Lighbulb (lightbulb-dilanchian-ip-blog-/index.php) blog posts on IP and business law. You can freely subscribe to Cue (component/option,com_contact/task,view/c ontact_id,3/) or our full RSS feed (rd-rss/index.php), or both. More About: Business , Articles
Cue > Jan 2008 > Articles on business structuring, law and IP
2008-02-01 02:25:00 This is the January 2008 issue of Cue, the Dilanchian email newsletter. Cue is a monthly selected list of our Library (general-items/library.html) articles and Lighbulb (lightbulb-dilanchian-ip-blog-/index.php) blog posts on IP and business law. You can freely subscribe to Cue (component/option,com_contact/task,view/c ontact_id,3/) or our full RSS feed (rd-rss/index.php), or both. More About: Business , Articles
"New England Australia" is now a geographic indicator for wine
More articles from this author:2008-01-29 23:21:00 New England Australia was registered in January 2008, joining about 60 other Australian wine regions recognised under law by Australia's Geographical Indications Committee. The name is now protected under Australian wine law. The addition of the word Australia distinguishes the name, eg from the New England region in the United States. There are several practical consequences for wine producers of New England. Here's our overview. More About: Wine , Indicator 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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